Government of Tajikistan Reaches out to National Press
17 – 19 February 2014, Dushanbe, Tajikistan – UNITAR, ZOI Environment Network and the Government of Tajikistan, with support from the Government of Switzerland, organized a two day Training Workshop on the Outcomes of the UNFCCC COP 19 on 17-18 February 2014, in Dushanbe. The workshop gathered representatives from 17 government ministries, local authorities, the private sector and NGOs as well as the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan. It provided participants with new scientific climate change data and the results of the COP 19 negotiations in Poland. During the event, participants also identified further financial opportunities for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the country, discussed an approach to climate change interactive mapping, and defined the next steps of a strategic Climate Change Roadmap for Tajikistan to engage in the UNFCCC negotiations process up to 2015.
A follow-up climate change media event was organized on 19 February 2014 to share the results of the workshop as well as information on climate change in Tajikistan with the broad public. In his opening remarks Mr. Peter Mikula, Country Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office, stressed the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration on climate change issues and of providing training support to policy-makers. The director of the State Administration for Hydrometeorology, Mr. Mahmad Safarov underlined that the Government of Tajikistan considers climate change as one of the key issues of the global agenda. He informed the press that the Third National Communication on Climate Change of Tajikistan will be presented by the end of the year. UNITAR’s Climate Change Consultant, Ms. Nataliya Stranadko highlighted that Tajikistan has an important role to play in the development of a new 2015 global climate agreement through the expression of its national position.
These two events build on a first training organized in September 2013 (read more). These activities are part of a project funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment to strengthen the capacity of Tajik policy-makers to participate effectively in the UNFCCC process during 2013. The project also assisted in the organization and delivery of a Tajikistan side event at COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland.